- [last lines]
- Kes: Everything seems so different now. My thoughts and perceptions... Even my relationships with my closest friends... You, the Doctor, Neelix... How can I go back to my normal life as if nothing ever happened?
- Lieutenant Tuvok: You cannot. This experience will force you to adapt. You are no longer the same person, and the course of your life will change as a result. Where that new course leads is up to you.
- Kes: You're already deteriorating, and it's only going to get worse. I'll find every little crack in your defenses. You'll feel yourself crumbling from within, your sanity slipping away. I won't stop until you're broken and helpless. There's nowhere you can go to get away from me. I'll be relentless and merciless, just like you.
- [Kes has defeated Tieran, but at a price]
- Kes: How can I worry about my own well-being when... so many people have suffered and died?
- Lieutenant Tuvok: You were not responsible for Tieran's actions.
- Kes: I can't help wondering whether I could've fought harder.
- Lieutenant Tuvok: It was your absolute refusal to surrender which defeated him. You cannot ask more of yourself than that.
- Tieran: I suffered pain all my life. It's going to take more than headaches to stop me.
- Kes: I know all about your life, I know about your suffering. It doesn't justify what you've become. You're a monster, Tieran, and I have no compassion for you.
- Tieran: And I don't ask for any. What I need from you I already have: your body and your mind.
- Kes: You may have my body, but you'll never have my mind. I won't surrender it.
- Kes-Tieran: Do you really think a child like this poses any threat to me? I've been fighting worse battles since the day I was born. When the doctors said I wouldn't live past my first year, I proved them wrong. Even when my parents thought I was too sickly to be worth caring for, I survived on the streets. Even when my own ungrateful subjects forced me into exile, I refused to accept defeat. I certainly won't surrender to this little girl!
- [the Doctor suggests using a synaptic stimulator on Kes's body to remove Tieran's neural pattern from her]
- Demmas: Yes, but how close would you have to get to use this device?
- The Doctor: To be fully effective, it would have to come in direct contact with her skin.
- Demmas: If I could get anywhere near her, I'd use a thoron rifle to be absolutely sure.
- Lieutenant Tom Paris: [seeing Tuvok apply the Vulcan nerve pinch on one of Tieran's guards] Someday you're gonna have to show me how to do that.
- Kes-Tieran: This momentary lapse will pass, and I'll be stronger than ever. Stronger than ever! Stronger than ever! Stronger than...
- Tieran: [to Kes] Wouldn't it be wiser to join me, to take advantage of all I have to offer? You may find that you enjoy having power. I assure you, it is the finest aphrodisiac there is.
- Kes-Tieran: I want the people to know that I have their welfare at heart. Tomorrow we'll send out an edict. Every citizen must have a garden.
- Nori: Garden?
- Kes-Tieran: I love plants, flowers, anything that grows. Some of the times I felt most content were those spent watching the seedlings grow in the airponics...
- Resh: This is insane. We've spent years planning this, every move, every detail, and now suddenly our leader's been reduced to a little girl?
- Kes-Tieran: I've been exploring the mind of this little girl and I've discovered some rather interesting abilities.
- [Resh begins to go into seizures]
- Kes-Tieran: She had barely begun to tap into them. It's a good thing I came along, so all that wasted potential could be turned to a greater purpose. Now, should I continue the demonstration, or do I have your loyalty?
- Demmas: [Demmas, the son of the Autarch, paces up and down in the Observation Lounge during a staff meeting] I'm sure they really wanted to kill my father! He's the one they invited up to your ship. Nori and Adin are known to be political extremists.
- Captain Kathryn Janeway: How could Kes be involved?
- Demmas: I may be able to explain that.
- [to the Doctor]
- Demmas: You mentioned that she was with the third patient when he died?
- The Doctor: That's right. Why?
- Demmas: I believe your crewmember has been inhabited by the consciousness of a very dangerous man, named Tieran.
- Neelix: [concerned] Who is that? What does he want with Kes?
- Demmas: Oh, I know exactly what he wants: To overthrow my family's government and reinstate himself as the Autarch.
- Lieutenant Tuvok: He has held the title before?
- Demmas: Tieran ruled Ilari over two centuries ago. He was a war hero, a brilliant military leader. He brought security and stability during a difficult time in our history, but in peacetime he began to treat his own subjects as enemies. He became convinced everyone was a potential traitor.
- Commander Chakotay: At some point your people must have rebelled.
- Demmas: They did, led by one of my ancestors. They laid siege to the Imperial Hall for over a year and the city around it was burned to the ground, but Tieran was finally defeated.
- Lieutenant Tuvok: And yet you believe that he, or at least his consciousness, has survived?
- Demmas: During his reign, he became obsessed with his own mortality. He spent most of his time, and Ilari's resources, searching for ways to overcome death. Somehow, he's discovered a way to transfer his own mind into someone else's body, as he's done with Kes.
- Neelix: So he's been controlling her?
- Demmas: Yes. Completely.
- Neelix: But she... HE knew things about Kes's life. He acted enough like Kes to fool us all.
- [hopeful]
- Neelix: The real Kes must still be in there somewhere.
- Demmas: Tieran may have access to her memories and her feelings, but the Kes you know... is lost. I'm very sorry.
- Captain Kathryn Janeway: I'm not prepared to accept that yet.
- [to the Doctor]
- Captain Kathryn Janeway: Examine the body of the man who died. We need more information about how the transfer works if we want to get Kes back.
- Demmas: That's certainly worth exploring, Captain, but our priority must be to stop Tieran - by force if necessary. Voyager is a powerful ship.
- Captain Kathryn Janeway: You may be considering force, but my only intention is to rescue Kes and remove Tieran's consciousness. That should suit both our interests.
- Demmas: You don't understand what's at stake here, Captain. You must help me to defend my people.
- Adin: Now that we've got the transfer mechanism in place, I suggest you use it to move into a more compatible body.
- Kes-Tieran: No. I like this one, particularly the unique mental abilities that come with it.
- Lieutenant Tuvok: You know that I won't provide you with any information.
- Kes-Tieran: You'd be surprised how often I've heard that.